A Flower in the Wind
by Zedblade
Summary: A terrible storm hits Konoha, leaving Chouji and Ino stranded in the forest. In an attempt to save their friends, Naruto and Shikamaru must brave the storm to rescue their lost comrades. [ChoujiIno, NaruHina, ShikaTema] [COMPLETE]
1. Returning Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: This story keeps all previous Manga chapters, 1 through 227, in mind, there might be some spoilers. Planned pairing are as followed, and keep in mind the word: "Planned."

NaruHina, ShikaTema, NejiTen, SasuSaku and for the one nobody saw coming . . . Chouji and Ino!!!

Well there you have it. R&R

Chapter 1

Shikamaru looked back at the unconscious body of Chouji. He was happy to see his friend alive, it seemed his faith in him did not falter, and he was able to defeat that wretched sound-ninja. Yet, he still felt a sting of guilt for the condition of his beloved friend and that of his fellow teammate, Neji. The Hyuuga was near death, and the companions were amazed that he didn't indeed fall into the eternal sleep.

Staring back at his fallen comrades, Shikamaru was jolted out of his thoughts by a voice he once thought troublesome.

"You think your friends will be all right?" Temari's voice sounded with genuine concern.

"Well" he begun "Chouji doesn't have many physical wounds, it was those damn pills he used that sucked him dry, as for Neji . . ."

"He will be just fine!" Came a loud shout from behind. "if I know Neji, he won't give up, just so he can get his revenge on me!!" Naruto's fox like grin spread over his face.

Just a short time ago, Naruto defeated yet another powerful foe: Uchiha Sasuke. After his victory, Naruto has been on cloud nine. The companions couldn't fathom the fact that Naruto was able to defeat a member of the strongest clan in Konoha.

Only one of the group members knew of the power Naruto had. He too was defeated by the loud mouth boy, however Gaara grew from his defeat. Like him, Naruto has lived a life of solitude, Gaara because of the demon inside him, and... Gaara did not know of Naruto's past, but he was sure that Naruto had something similar sealed up inside him. What? He didn't know.

The companions continued their trek towards Konoha, they were lined up: Kiba at the front, Shikamaru behind him, followed by Temari. Behind her was Gaara, with him 3 floating platforms of sand carrying their fallen ninjas. Behind Gaara were Naruto, Lee and finally Kankuro.

Looking at the body of Sasuke, Shikamaru could tell that Naruto almost let his anger get the best of him, he could tell that Sasuke was on the verge of death. The reason for Sasuke leaving was still a mystery to him and the others. They knew of Sasuke's search for power, so he could finally avenge his family. But it didn't occur to them that he would betray his village to seek power from the likes of Orochimaru . . . the monster that took there Third Hokage away.

Walking through this dense forest was very troublesome for the lone chuunin. On several occasions he had asked Gaara to give him is own floating sand cloud. Unfortunately for Shikamaru, Gaara refused every time, each time mumbling to himself about the laziness of the leader.

If it wasn't for the caution taken to keep the fallen ninjas safe from unneeded movement, they would have been able to just jump from the trees, cutting their time to less then half. Unfortunately, that would be impossible, if Gaara would try and speed up and jump, the clouds were mock his every movement and the ride would be far too strenuous for the fatally wounded three. Even so, they were moving as fast as possible, still making somewhat good time.

Thoughts of Chouji, Neji and even Sasuke rushed through Shikamaru's mind, as well as other events, including the arrival of the new allies of the leaves, the sand siblings. Yet Shikamaru's mind kept circling around to two people. Chouji of course, his friend from childhood who now lay mortally wounded. The other . . . a mystery as to why his mind kept focusing on her. A certain golden haired beauty, who just recently saved his life and is now walking silently behind him. Feeling a uncertain feeling in his chest, he couldn't think of one way to remedy it . . . but he did have a idea.

"So Temari?" Shikamaru started, no real direction to take the conversation, he quickly thought of something. "You have become much stronger then when I faced you in the exams, especially that summoning technique, very impressive."

Temari looked up with a feint blush that disappeared before anyone could notice, she responded. "Yes, all three of us have trained very hard since that day. Our entire ninja force trained many times harder, so we may one day get revenge on Orochimaru for killing our father and then using us like puppets. Also, we knew were were responsible for a lot of the leaf causalities that day. We wanted to become stronger so..." She paused and glanced back at Gaara, his face emotionless. She turned back, her eyes filled with regret. "We felt responsible, and think that its our duty to protect Konoha until its forces are rebuilt to its former glory." She took a long breath of air and slowly exhaled. Shikamaru turned and realized she indeed spoke the truth about the Sand feeling responsible. Shikamaru found himself unable to break away from Temari's beautiful, yet saddened face.

Temari glanced up, seeing Shikamaru staring at her deeply. She couldn't help but feel reddening in her cheeks. She had found him handsome since the first day she seen him, but nothing more. Now after their fight in the arena and with that woman sound-ninja. She somehow found herself growing accustom to his lazy demeanor.

Seeing Temari staring at him, Shikamaru quickly turn back, shrugging it off and announcing to the party casually.

"We should be able to get to Konoha just after nightfall!"

"All right!!" Naruto yelled, "Cant wait for some RAMAN!!!!"


	2. Chouji's Up!

Chapter 2:

"Your pathetic, a weakling sent to sacrifice his worthless life to save the mission."

"Your wrong, Shikamaru has faith in me, I will defeat you!!"

"Stupid fat kid, your nothing, after I rip you apart, I' m going for your puny friends, and I will find and kill this Shikamaru slowly, just so I can torture your damned soul!!"

"No. . . I . . . Won't . . . LET YOU!!!"

Images of the sound-nin blinked away, Chouji's eye snapped open, as he bolted upright. Frantically looking around, he realized that he was no longer in the forest, but now found himself in a hospital room.

The room was empty, standard hospital equipment lay scattered around. Reaching to scratch, he found himself hooked up to IV. Beside his bed were two chairs sitting closely together and he noticed that on the window seal was a vase holding beautiful daffodils, a sure sign of Ino's visit.

Chouji felt different, it was a good different, taking notice of a mirror opposite of him, he stared wide eyed, letting out a small gasp. Even through the over sized hospital gown, he could tell he was thinner, very much so in fact. He quickly thought back to the fight with the sound-ninja. Yes he remembered, to defeat him, he had to use all the 3 pills, but if he ate the last pill. . . why wasn't he dead?

Question of his sure demise were cut off when the room's door open, revealing a surprised Shikamaru.

"Chouji!" Shikamaru called out as he rushed to his friends side. "Glad your finally awake."

"Ah, Shikamaru, how long have I been out?"

Before Shikamaru could answer, his companion came through the open door, wearing a blue dress down to her knees, and her blond haired tired up in its normal fashion.

"Chouji!" Temari gasped, Quickly seating next to Shikamaru, giving him a look of love as she did.

Chouji looked at Temari with surprised, why was she here. Then he noticed how as she sat next to Shikamaru, the two looked at each other, it wasn't a normal look, it was one of. . ..

Chouji pointed at the two "So. . . you two are. . .?"

"Yes, yes we are "Shikamaru replied, a feint blush appearing on his face, as well as on Temari's.

"When?"

"Ever since the mission, we slowly fell for each other."

"Mission? You two were on a mission . . . wait, wait, wait, first tell me how long I was out and whether or not our mission was a success." Chouji couldn't wash the confusion from his face.

"Oh, yeah sorry, well I hate to say, but you've been in a coma for the past 2 weeks. As for the mission, it was a success. Naruto was able to defeat Sasuke and we brought him back alive."

"Wow! Two weeks, and you said Naruto defeated Sasuke? How did he get so strong?"

"Yeah, Naruto did put a beat down on the pretty boy Uchiha, as for Naruto being so strong. . . well I have my suspicions, but lets just say we must have really underestimated him. But forget that, you sure gave that sound-ninja a good ass-whooping."

"Thanks, I knew you had faith in me. Well anyway, so tell me about you and Temari, how did guys get together?"

"Well, the mission we were on was one in the same as yours. Temari came to my rescue, as did her brothers for Kiba and Lee. I guess something just sparked, I don't know. Anyway, about a week ago, we finally just got past the awkwardness and asked each other out. Its nothing special, and its troublesome to talk about it."

Temari shot a stare of pure evil at Shikamaru, "Troublesome, our relationship is troublesome!? Hmmf, I'll show you troublesome boy..."

"No, No, No, I didn't mean it like that." Shikamaru shot his hands up in defense, "I just didn't want to go into a long drawn out story when he just got up. Sorry Tem, I didn't mean it like that." Shikamaru was sure his word soothed here, he thought to himself that he just barely avoided death.

Chouji couldn't help but smile at the situation. "So Shikamaru, I see by the flowers that Ino has been here, hows she doing?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Well. . . It turns out that after we got back from the mission, Ino finally revealed to me that she liked me. She said something about that the whole Sasuke crap was just to piss Sakura off. Anyway, unbeknownst to her, Temari and I already had feelings for each other, and I told her that when she confronted me. I simply said she waited too long. After that she became broken, and I haven't really spoken to here since. But I do know that since then, shes been visiting you every day. In fact, we passed her on the way out, well at least Temari did, I was hiding."

"Ha, your such a chicken Shika." Chouji said with a grin.

"Nah, its just too troublesome to deal with." Shika shrugged, "Well anyway, I got to go, I didn't expect you to be up, I just wanted to check in just in case. I have some training to go to. I'll talk to the doctors, see how long you have to stay in here. Oh, bye the way, do you like your new look?"

"Well, even though the majority of my techniques were based off of being. . . overweight, I guess I can live with it. In fact, I don't even feel like eating."

Shikamaru's mouth dropped, "Chouji, thats the first time in my entire life I ever heard you say that, you really must have changed."

"Hehe, yeah I guess so, just hope I can still use some of my families techniques."

"Yeah me too, well anyway, I gotta run, I'll try to visit you later."

"Okay, bye Shika, and see you later Temari."

"Later Chouji."

At that, the pair departed, leaving Chouji alone once again. After a few minutes a nurse came in, stating that he would be able to leave tomorrow. Chouji desperately wanted to train for some reason, despite a burning desire to get stronger, he forced himself to fall back asleep.


	3. Training

Chapter 3: Training

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!!!" Naruto declared.

Instantly, 10 others Narutos popped into existence, each with a determined look on their face. The 10 surrounded the original, they each had plenty of room to spare in the open clearing of training ground 7.

"Okay you cheap imitations, lets see what you can do against the best ninja in Konaha!!"

Naruto rushed at the clones, striking one square in the nose. Before it could hit the ground, Naruto circled with fox like speed, slamming his foot against the clone in mid-fall. The clone flew 20 feet and smashed into the ground, skidding before finally exploding into a cloud of smoke. Seeing an opening, another clone quickly grabbed Naruto from behind, arms around his neck, trying to choke the life out of his original. Held in place by a clone, Naruto was defenseless against another's barrage of shurikens. The shurikens met there mark, catching Naruto in the upper chest and throat. The clone looked wide eyed, did he kill his master? Unfortunately for him, he learned the hard way, a massive blow to the head caused him to fly side ways exploding in smoke. The Naruto that got hit ceased to exist, as well as the one holding him.

"Ah, got to thank Kakashi for that one." Naruto breathed out.

Naruto, let a small smile wash over his face, four down, 6 to go he thought. Letting out a battle cry, he charged into the remaining, round housing one, while simultaneously slicing another with his Kunai. Naruto's grin wore off as a clone kicked him in the stomach hard making the ninja buckle over, then with a painful blow to the back of Naruto's head he fell to the ground. Laying there, Naruto was able to see the remaining clones as they instantly tried to kick the downed ninja. Naruto however was able to turn around and leap up, while doing so caught another clone under his chin with both feet. The clone sailed up and vanished into smoke. Whirling around to face the last 3 shadows, Naruto hoped these three would be more of a challenge. However, unknown to Naruto, as he trained against his clones, he was being watched by a white eyed admirer.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered. She stood behind a tree, well out of sight from her beloved ninja. She was watching the fight, very impressed with the skills of Naruto, it seems that his hand-to-hand techniques were improving. The pressure to just walk right up to him and confess about her love was weighing her down like a million pounds. But, she couldn't do it, she was just too shy, and afraid of the pain she might feel if he rejected. Plus, he liked Sakura, who as far as she was concerned didn't deserve his heart. She couldn't believe that even after Sasuke's betrayal that Sakura was still drooling over him. Hmmf, as far as she was concerned, Sakura deserved to suffer, and wait while Sasuke sat in that jail until they figured out what to do with that cursed seal.

"No." Hinata said to herself, Sakura's my friend, I shouldn't think like that. I hope they figure out something and heal Sasuke. . . for Sakura's sake.

"Ah, It seems you have a fan, Naruto." A clone spat out. "You know why she keeps watching you right, It doesn't take a shadow replicant to realized why."

"Shut up, I'm not stupid, I realized that already, I just don't know what to do. Once her feelings became known to me, I've just been torn between her and Sakura, and instead of trying to get either, I've just shut them off and trained."

"Well, tell you what, why don't go talk to her now, You know good and well that Sakura will forever love Sasuke, stop denying it and move on."

Naruto thought, he's right. . . well I'm right . . . well whatever. Stupid out of body argument with myself. I will never get rid of this feeling if i just ignore it. I cant be alone anymore.

"Fine." Naruto said, and at that the clones vanished, leaving Naruto alone, with the mission of telling Hinata about his feelings.

Hinata was confused, after what seemed to be a conversation with his clones, Naruto canceled them. Not knowing whether or not to leave, she looked down thinking of her next move. Assuming that Naruto was done training she looked up to find something terrifying.

"Hey Hinata, I need to talk to you!!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards where Hinata stood.

* * *

Ino was walking very slowly, thoughts of the past week rushed through her head. She was so confused. From finding out the truth about Shikamaru and Temari, too the constant worry about her teammate. Well, she thought, I don't have to worry about the latter, he's finally awake. Ever since the revealing of Shikamaru and Temari's love, Ino found herself caring more and more about her teammate. She always like the over sized boy. She thought of him as a big teddy bear. But now, well, now she didn't know. She thought that if he ever lost weight that he would be better looking. Yet, hes not just better looking. . . he's gorgeous. 

Ino's confusion was pissing her off, two weeks ago, she loved Shikamaru, one week ago that was crushed and now she felt herself growing towards Chouji. Maybe she always liked him deep down, but it never surfaced because of what she felt for Shikamaru. Which ironically, she covered that up with all that crap she did for Sasuke, just to piss off Sakura. How could she be so stupid?

"Shut up Ino, your thinking too much." She scolded herself. She finally decided to drop it and continue towards her destination: Konoha Hospital.

* * *

Not getting much sleep at all, Chouji laid wide awake. In his entire life he has never been this bored. And despite his claims of feeling healthy, the doctors refused to let him leave until the next day. He wanted to train, never in his life has he ever felt like training so much. Maybe the fight with sound-nin rubbed off of him. Maybe the power he felt after he ate the 3rd pill is now giving him the hunger for more. Chouji was so confused. 

The room's door opened, and big man stood in its place.

"Father." Chouji said excitedly.

"Hello son, Shikamaru told me about you being awake before he went off to train, I'm very happy that your alright."

Chouji simply nodded.

Chouji's father sat down next to his son's bed. While sitting, he reached behind his back and pulled a bag of chips out of nowhere. Opening them, he started to munch on the greasy snack.

"What some?" Chouji's father asked between a mouthful.

"No thanks, I already had some hospital food earlier."

"Okay. . . your loss."

Chouji looked at his father, he was a strong man, one of the strongest in his clan. He was proud of him.

"Oh. . .Dad, can I ask you. . . why aren't I dead. . . I ate the last pill."

His father stopped eating, he knew that this question was coming.

"Simple, your 1 in 100."

Chouji looked at is dad with complete confusion. "1 in 100?"

"Yeah, throughout our families history, every member that has ever taken the third pill died. Thats why it was forbidden to eat unless it was deemed absolutely necessary. However. . . throughout the years, there have been two members of our clan that have successfully taken the pill and survived. And not only did they survive, they became enormously stronger. Well Chouji, that number just now went up to three. In others words, your the equivalent to a genius, except far more rare.."

Chouji looked wide eyed at his father. Was this true, was he actually a rare person. He never thought of himself as anything special, he was just fat, lazy Chouji. Now. . .just like that, hes a genius.

Chouji's father smiled, he was so proud that his son was the rare member to be able to stand the effects of the third pill. In fact, if he lost his son, he would have no meaning to life. He would have become an empty shell. . .

"Dad, I know I've never told you this before, but I feel like training, could you please try to convince those doctors to let me leave?"

"I'll see what I can do." With that, Chouji's father got up and headed out of the room.

"Oh hello Ino." Chouji's father almost ran over the small girl as he headed out.

"Hello"

"Go on in, hes up"

"Okay, thanks."

"Oh Ino, how you doing, you look very pretty." Chouji complement here. . . thinking to himself where the hell did that just come from.

"Oh thank you." Ino blushed. She thought to herself, where did that come from?

"So, how much of that did you hear Ino?"

"Enough, but I'm happy that you found out about how special you are. I always knew you were destined for more then just single handily keeping the chip company going."

"Ah, thanks a lot."

"No problem, So anyway, It seems like your doing pretty good. I heard you ask you father to bail you out of here. Something about training."

"Yeah, ever since I awoke this morning, I've had the urge just to get up and train. I don't know why. Maybe I'm tired of being the one thats the weakest. And maybe this new body is the catalyst to my ultimate strength."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I'm the weakest of the genin, and I'm not smart enough to be a good strategist, I'm useless."

"Now Ino thats not true, your very strong, and very smart. I wont let you make the same mistake I made, and downplay your abilities. I have faith in you, just like how Shikamaru had faith in me."

"Bah, Shikamaru, he isn't the only one who had faith in you, and I. . . crap. Just thinking about Shikamaru makes me want to beat his face in."

"Ha ha, sorry about that, I forgot."

"Oh, you know?"

"Yeah, Shikamaru was with Temari this morning, he was just hiding from you. But yeah, they told me everything."

"Oh"

"Yah, but they said that you have visited me everyday, thanks."

"Now Chouji, don't think I don't care about you."

"Don't worry, I know you care, you were always helping me when I got hurt during training, even though you made a fuss about it."

"Hey, speaking of training, you want to go whenever those doctors finally let you go."

"Yeah sure, don't know when that might be but, Yeah i would love too."

Right on cue, Chouji's father came back through the door. A smile on his face. "Chouji, it took some time, but they finally said you could go. But whatever you do don't forget your still a little weak."

"Finally, thanks dad." Chouji was excited, he looked over at Ino, he always thought she was beautiful, but for some reason, she shined today. "So Ino, you want to go train now?"

"Well. . .why not, I don't have anything to do, Sure lets go."

Luckily Chouji's cloths were kept in his room for the day his awoke. Changing swiftly in the bathroom, they walked out of the hospital together. The three parted ways down the street, Chouji's dad heading for the estate, while Ino and Chouji went off to train together.


	4. A Coming Disaster

A/N: Sorry it took sometime to post this. I had some college projects to work on. But they are all but done. I should have much more time to work on the Fic. Anyway, I want to thank those that reviewed. I really appreciate your words. Feel free to flame me for the punctuation/spelling/grammar mistakes. I don't mind being roughly critiqued so long it has a meaning. Don't just flame because your a loser bastard.

Anyway, I just like to tell you where the idea of this story came from. I live in Florida and we recently got hit by Hurricane Charley. After the storm, I was out of power for 5 days. And from complete boredom I decided to dust off the old pencil and notepad and write. What resulted was chapter 1 and 2. We got hit pretty hard, my neighborhood was trashed, every other tree was uprooted. Anyway, the rage of the storm made me write something about it. And, well this basically it.

* * *

Chapter 4: A Coming Disaster

Heaven, thats the only way Hinata could describe it. Here she was, the shyest girl to ever walk the streets of Konaha, on a date with the boy she loved. Well, she couldn't give herself any credit, he was the one who finally said something. Otherwise, she would still be hiding herself behind some tree, watching him and dreaming about finally confronting him.

"Hinata-chan? Your not eating, you okay?" Naruto question his new girlfriend.

"Yes Nar . . .Naruto-kun." She popped out of her thoughts. "I'm just really hap. . .happy to be. . . be here."

"Well, you would be even more happy if you would eat some raman, its the greatest thing on earth, its Kami-sama's gift to the world."

Hinata couldn't help but to chuckle, Naruto's huge grin only expressed that he was very happy, and spoke the truth about his precious raman.

"But . . .Naruto-kun, aren't I . . . a gi . . .gift to you?"

"Of course!" Naruto yelled out, then embraced his love, giving her a passionate kiss on the cheek. This of course caused Hinata to blush the most darkest red.

The two sat there, enjoying each others company, talking and flirting. Seconds before they were finished however, they were confronted by a member of Hinata's team.

"Hinata?" Kiba gasped "Why are you here with Naruto?"

"Well, I . . . Um . . . well . . . we are to . . ."

"Were dating, duh." Naruto finished for her.

Kiba's eye exploded with jealousy, "DATING!!!, but Hinata, I thought we were . . ." Kiba stopped, remembering his mission." Forget it, I don't have time, I was looking for Naruto, figured this place was the most likely spot."  
  
"What do you want with me dog piss?"

"Naruto-kun, dont ca . . .call him names" Hinata scolded

"Forget it, I'm not insulted, anyway dobe, the Hokage wants to speak with you, don't know why she couldn't just get you herself." Kiba announced.

"Fine, Hinata, want to join me?"

"O . . . of course."

Naruto gave Kiba a quick nod, then with Hinata in tow dashed towards the Hokage's office. While running, Naruto could hear the shouts of Kiba from behind, he purposely left in a hurry so Kiba would have to pay the bill. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, thats what he gets for interrupting me and Hinata. After a short distance Naruto, with Hinata behind him found themselves at the Hokage's office. The ANBUs guarding the front door, once realizing that it was the fifth's "little brother," let him in without question.

"Finally your here, sure took long enough." Tsunade taunted

"Shush old woman, I was having a lovely lunch with my girlfriend, until your dog message boy ruined the fun."

"Girlfriend?" Tsunade looked at Naruto with questioning eyes, then she noticed a petite figure hiding herself behind the boy. Her lavender eyes downcast, and a look of utter embarrassment covered her face. "Ah yes, you must be Hyuga Hinata, the heir to the Hyuuga clan, I'm surprised someone as shy as you could fall for such a loudmouth baka."

Hinata's pale eyes showed the smallest hint of anger, she slowly appeared from behind her boyfriend, and began to push her finger together with nervousness.

"Naruto-kun isn't a . . . a baka, hes . . . very sm . . . smart." Once she was done defending her love, she quickly got back to the safety of her boyfriend's side.

"Ah, what a cute couple." Tsunade teased "Well anyway, the reason I called you here Naruto is very favorable for you. In fact I'm sure you will just love it. After much talking between the village elders and I, a decision has been made. I'm sure you will love . . ."

Naruto didn't have the slightest idea what the old bag was rambling on about, he quickly wanted this to get over with so he could go back to spending time with Hinata. "Thats all fine and dandy, would you just tell me why I'm here already!" Naruto shouted out.

"Whoa, calm down, I'm getting there." Tsunade yelled back, she wasn't going to let this boy get the better of her. "Okay, I'm here to tell you that you have gained the acknowledgment of the village elders and myself. We would like to promote you to the rank of chunin, that is of course if you agree."

Naruto's eyes grew to an unbelievable size "REALLY!!! Woohoo, step two for becoming Hokage down!!!"

"So I take that as a yes?"

"No, thats a hell yes!!"

Tsunade couldn't help but laugh at the excitement of her little brother. She could tell that this was a very happy day for him. Unfortunately, that was about to change for everyone.

* * *

With all of her agility and speed, Ino was dashing about, throwing blunt kunai and shurikens, all were targeted for Chouji. She smirked as he easily dodged them. He has become fast she thought, there was a time when he wasn't able to dodge them and just stood there, munching on his chips and taking the hits. But now, with speed that came very close to Lee's, he was dodging them without even breaking a sweat.

Chouji jumped into the air, before landing he performed a double back flip while simultaneously throwing shurikens. They were headed straight towards Ino with blinding speed. She better move soon, he thought. Ino saw the amazing acrobatic display and was stunned to see 3 shurikens speeding her way. She bent down, forcing as much chakra as possible into her feet and bolted up. She looked down to see that she dodged the shurikens by mere inches, a smiled crept over here face. Looking up to find here sparing partner, she was confronted by another shuriken that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She had no way to dodge, she was still in mid-air from her jump, the only thing to do was to take the hit. The blunt shuriken rammed full speed into her stomach, making her bend over in pain. The brute force of the shuriken caused the air to get knocked out of her lungs, and she went limp. She couldn't help herself from falling straight towards the ground at high speeds.

"Ino!!" Chouji yelled in fear.

With unearthly speed, he sprang from his position, the ground exploded behind him and a dust trail followed the blazing Ninja. Chouji leaped into the air, catching the out of breath girl in his arms, he landed as light as a feather, and took her to the shade of a nearby tree.

"Ino, I'm so sorry, I knew that I shouldn't have thrown that shuriken so hard." Chouji's eyes began to swell, tears were only seconds away. He couldn't believe he just hurt her so bad.

Ino couldn't talk, she was struggling to get air back into her lungs, after a brief period, she came around. "Its okay Chouji, this is training after all, its my fault for not realizing you threw another one."

"Doesn't matter, I shouldn't have thrown it will all my strength, I still haven't experimented enough to know my own power, I fear if that shuriken would have hit you in the head, you might have had a concussion . . .or worse."

"Well, it didn't , so stop worrying about it" Ino smiled, hoping to get the regret of her friend off his chest.

"Well, okay, but I think we should stop training for right now." Chouji looked up, and found the sun. "It looks to be a while after lunch, and I'm pretty hungry, why don't we go ahead and eat those lunches we bought."

Ino smiled, giving her partner a nod, she slowly got up. Together they went over to their bag, where the 2 packs of lunches were kept. Sitting in the shade of a grand tree, they began to eat.

Silence filled the forest as Chouji and Ino sat side by side. Enjoying their meal. Chouji felt like something was wrong with the silence, so he decided to break it.

"So Ino, deep down, do you feel that Shika and Temari are a good couple?"

Ino leaned back, eyes slightly larger from the abrupt question. "What!! What kind of question is that. Of course . . ." She lowered her voice. "Yeah, I suppose they are cute . . . well cute for them. Shikamaru is still my friend, and if hes happy with that sand-ninja, well then so be it."

"Do you still have feelings for Shika?"

"Why would you care?"

"I'm just wondering, trying to talk to you as a close friend here, maybe you need to talk to someone about it, make you feel better."

"Hmmf, when did you get so smart?"

"I've always been smart, hanging around a person like Shika, with an IQ of over 200 kinda helps. In the past I was just too busy . . . eating, to really express myself."

"Okay . . .whatever."

"Just answer the question Ino, do you still have feelings for him?"

Ino lifted her head in thought, Chouji had no right to ask such a question. Yet, she felt obliged to answer.

"No, after I found out about him and his "fan" girl, It went away."

"Went away? I don't think feelings like that can just go away."

"Hmmf, well it did, not only that, once the feelings for Shika disappeared, I realized that he wasn't my type, and I also realized that I had feelings for someone else."

"Who?"

Ino didn't know what to say, she was speechless, its true, she didn't like Shika anymore, and she did have feelings for someone else. But, that someone else was . . .

"None of your freaking business!!" She yelled

"Whoa, okay okay, sorry. Didn't think you would get so upset about me asking such a simple question."

"Yeah simple question, extremely hard answer."

Chouji was hoping she would say his name. After all these years of secretly harboring feelings for her, he thought that now was the best time to get her. But maybe being strong and handsome wasn't enough for Ino.

"Sorry, please forgive me for getting you upset." Chouji apologized, he lowered his head expecting Ino to shout something about how he should have known.

Ino looked at her teammate, he was sulking, he thought he really upset her, but he didn't. She upset herself, her mind was telling her to tell him, yet her mouth betrayed her. Suppose I could start slow she thought, maybe give out some hints instead of blurting it out. Maybe then my body won't betray me.

Ino scooted closer to Chouji, and lifted his head with her index finger. "Its okay, I didn't mean it, I shouldn't have yelled at you for no reason." Ino then stroked his cheek. "I'm the one thats sorry."

Chouji was dumbfounded, and once realizing Ino was stroking his cheek, he couldn't do anything else but to blush. He thought to himself: shes touching me.

Ino backed away, hoping that caught the boy's attention. She knew it had some effect, he was blushing a very deep pink.

Chouji thought that maybe this was his chance, she just showed a side of herself that he rarely saw, maybe he could give some affection back.

Staring at Ino, who now was looking off into the clouds, He found her hand laying gently on the ground. Taking a breath and taking a chance, he reached for it and held it with care.

Ino felt something on her hand, at first she thought some type of bug was crawling on it. But it felt too good to be some nasty critter. She looked down and was surprised to see a hand resting on hers. Following the the arm up, she met eye to eye with the suspect.

"Chouji?" the girl gasped.

Chouji was about to let ago and apologize, but he didn't, he found strength and decided that it was now or never.

"Ino, I . . . Well . . . I have had feelings for you a while now." He felt more scared now then ever, he would happily face that sound-nin again. This was horrifying, but he kept on. "but, I never thought that I was good enough for you. But after I came back from that mission a changed person. I think that maybe I'm someone that you could count on. I just want to let you know. I like you, I like you a lot."

Ino couldn't help but to be shocked, thats exactly what she wanted to say, but had nowhere near the guts to do it. Either way, it was music to her ears. Her stomach filled with butterflies and she felt like she was walking on clouds.

"Chouji, I . . .that . . ."

Chouji saw the shock in Ino's eyes, he thought that it was a mistake. Releasing her hand, he scooted back. He was ready to get up and walk away when. . .

"Chouji, I like you too." Ino breathed out.

Chouji stopped where he was, had she just said what he thought she said?

"You . . . you do?"

"Yes of course, You've always been there, in fact I've always had feelings for you, But things kept getting in my way. Namely stupid boys such as Sasuke and Shikamaru. I'm sorry that it took a heart break and a complete change on you part for me to finally come around."

Chouji was about to respond, when Ino lunged at him, arms stretched wide. She latched herself on to her new found love. Squeezing tight, and resting her head on his chest. He didn't wait to return the hug. He felt warm, her head on his chest was the greatest feeling he had ever experienced. They sat there, enjoying the warmth of the embrace.

Ino looked up, tears in her eyes. Chouji couldn't help but to notice. Thinking something was wrong he asked. "Whats wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just really happy. I can't believe things worked out so fast. I didn't expect it."

"Yeah me too, I haven't been this happy for a while now."

They once again fell silent, they stared into each other's eyes. Ino made the first move, she lifted up and placed her lips on Chouji's. They were much more soft then she expected. Chouji was experiencing pure nirvana, Ino's lips were pressed against his. They were sweet and soft, he never wanted this to end.

Several minutes passed, then finally Ino pulled away. She wore a beautiful smile, her blue eyes stared straight at her teammate. They leaned back against a tree, still holding each other tight. They were content on just sitting there, periodically giving each other small kisses. Soon time passed, and Chouji found that the kisses from Ino stopped. He looked over and found her sound asleep. He smiled, and thought to himself: might as well join her.

* * *

Naruto was still in the Hokage's office hugging Hinata tightly, he was filled with excitement from his new promotion. She was glad for him too, and wasn't afraid to return the strong embrace.

"Wow you two should get a room . . ." Tsunade stopped there, that was a little wrong to say, they were only 12. "Well, never mind."

The excitement ended as a freaked out junin plowed through the door, startling everyone.

"Hokage, sorry to disturbed you, but we have some bad news. Reports from the city say that a tremendous storm just made landfall. Its going to hit us soon."

"A storm, we're far inland, a storm isn't that dangerous."

"No Hokage, its not just a storm. Its a level 5 Typhoon, in fact, its the strongest ever recorded. Its top speeds over 400mph. And even worst, its so strong that when it finally does hit us, it will only weaken by 5 percent!"

Tsuande was shocked, and her eyes conveyed it. "A level 5, its been nearly 2 decades since one that strong has been anywhere near us. When will it be upon us?"

"By night fall."

"Nightfall? Damn its fast. Okay this is what we need to do. Go ahead and evacuate everyone to the caves, the ninjas should stay behind and board up all the windows, and wait until the last minute to make sure there are no civilians left behind. The walls of the village should give us some protection."

"Yes ma'am" At that, the junin left the room and went to spread the word.

"Naruto, you have a mission, your first as a Chunin, I want you to go and gather up all the ones that are training, they are most likely in the forest, make sure you check every training field, especially those outside of the walls. Be fast about it, this isn't something to take lightly."

"You can count on me" Naruto turned around and faced Hinata. "You heard her, I have to go, You should go get your family and get them to the safely of the caves."

Hinata nodded. They both left the room together, each with their own mission.


	5. Missing

Author Notes: Thanks for the reviews, and yeah after rereading the romantic scene between Chouji and Ino, I did notice some corn. Well, it was my first ever attempt at romantic writing, so give me some room for error. Anyway, this should be about the half way point for the story, unless i make the following chapters much longer. Well enjoy and please review.

* * *

Chapter 5: Missing

Shikamaru found himself once again facing a girl. Even when training, they always stuck him with a female; well, he thought, at least this female wasn't as . . . troublesome as the others. Sighing, Shikamaru knew he had to do something. Hiding in the shadows of the trees wont work for long. She was much too smart to fall for the same trick twice. Last time, he was able to use the environment to his advantage, but this time there was no hole for him to slip his shadow through. This was a completely different game. A gust of extreme wind blew Shikamaru back towards a tree, after sliding to a halt inches away from the hard wood, he slowly got up, and dusted himself off. Sweat was pouring from his face like a waterfall. And he was completely out of ideas.

"Shika, you don't expect me to just stand here until you figure some clever as hell way to catch me in your shadow again? I'd expect you to think I'm smarter then that." Temari barked.

Bah, he knew she was. In fact, thats why he hesitated, knowing a full frontal attack was useless against that over sized fan of hers. He would have been blown away like a insignificant fly. Only one thing to do he finally thought, I have use my newest technique. At that, he went behind a nearby tree, and got down on one knee. He placed his fingers together, and formed a zero with his index and thumb. Flipping his hand upside down, he calmed himself and let the silence of the forest lure him into a meditation.

"I know what your doing, and this time I wont let you finish." Temari said quietly to herself, she knew going into the shade was a dangerous choice, but she didn't want to allow him the time to form a strategy. Hoping she could catch him off guard; she quickly, but stealthily went into the forest. Slowly she crept, over the many roots and downed leaves, trying not to make the slightest noise, so she would not awaken Shikamaru from his deep thoughts. Sensing his chakra behind a thick tree trunk, she cautiously neared. Slowly coming around the corner, she could see his pony tell, and finally his entire body. He was still in that position. She couldn't help but smile.

"Haha, I've got you." Temari raised her fan ready to strike, pushing as much force and she could into the blow, she swung the fan, waiting for it to hit its mark. . . It never did.

"What the!? My body, I cant move!" Temari gasped in fear.

"Ha, knew you would take the initiative and come for me in the forest." Shikamaru mocked, as he stepped out from behind another tree. Looking at the surprised Temari, he smirked. The Shikamaru on the ground, in his famous position exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"A replication!?"

"Yep, can't believe you were fooled so easily. I set that shadow replication there, knew you would follow it because of the chakra. While I on the other hand, hid and used all my will power to calm myself and reduce the amount of chakra that could be sensed. It worked perfectly, as you can see."

"How did you learn the shadow replication!?"

"Simple, one of my good friends uses it as his primary technique, it wasn't hard to get him to teach it to me."

"Naruto. . . that bastard."

"Hey, no need for name calling. Well it looks like we are back to where we were in the exams, except this time, I'm not going to give up."

"Oh really, what are you planning on doing?"

"You'll see" Shikamaru smiled, and began walking towards Temari, and because of the shadow imitation technique, she did the same. They slowly approached each other, Temari didn't know what he had planned. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad. He knew he wouldn't hurt her. The entire time, Shikamaru wore a bright smile, he knew that Temari was fuming because she was easily captured.

Finally face-to-face, Shikamaru smiled. "Now, its my turn" With that he . . . let loose the shadow imitation and grabbed Temari by the waist, pulling her close. "See, told you I wouldn't give up" With that he went to kiss her, but was interrupted by a blast of Sand, which sent the two flying back from each other, landing hard in the dirt.

"Hey, don't you forget about us, I told you not to do that crap when were here." a red head said, with a face of pure disgust plastered on his face.

"Way to go Gaara, if i had to see them kiss again, I'm afraid I might just puke, in fact . . . lets just end it now, Give them a sand funeral. . . come on; Sand Funeral!!"

"Shut up Kankurou" Temari yelled, she was furious that she was robbed of such a romantic moment with Shikamaru because of her brothers' inability to cope.

"Don't tell me to shut up, your nasty display of affections for that shadow guy is turning my guts inside out. Gaara what are you waiting for? SAND FUNERAL THEIR ASSES!!"

Gaara just looked at the puppet master. He shrugged and walked away..

"What the? . . . come on Gaara, Sand Funeral!!!"

"Shut up you dobe, you really want me to kill our sister?"

". . .No, of course not." Kankurou dropped his head in shame, damn he thought, guess their indecent display of affection would continue to torture him. Man, if it wasn't for Naruto, Gaara really would have killed her already.

"ANYBODY HERE!!!" A voice screamed out. The sand siblings and Shikamaru looked towards the clearing in the forest to see a bright orange figure standing there.

"Yeah, were in the forest" Shikamaru yelled. Together they walked out into the clearing, there they met a somewhat exhausted Naruto.

"Hey guys, I'm here to tell you that you all have to go to the cave for safety."

"The cave? Why" Temari Questioned.

What was the reason again, Naruto thought, um . . . . oh yeah. "Well there is some type of typhoon heading this way, its pretty strong and very dangerous. The Hokage wanted me to go to every training field to warn everyone."

Thy all looked confused, but they didn't push the matter. "Fine." they said in unison. Giving a slight nod, the four dashed towards the cave, jumping from tree to tree.

"Alright, that leaves only two more training grounds left" Naruto thought to himself. He better hurry too, nightfall was only 2 hours away.

Naruto found the general direction of his next location, and began traveling. Hopefully he can do this quick and get to the caves himself.

* * *

"Well one done, one to go." Naruto thought has he leaped from branch to branch. Luckily the previous training ground was empty, he sat for a while yelling to make sure no one was there.

Finally at his last target he landed in the middle of yet another training ground clearing. He took a look around and noticed that a battle recently took place here. There was a pretty large crater, with a trench leading from it. Looks like someone with great speed and power needed to move fast. Wonder who it could have been he pandered. Looking around more, he noticed some shurikens embedded in the the trees. Hmm, wonder if the people training were still here?

"Anybody here!!" He screamed.

Nothing. . . Just the rustle of the leaves as a slight breeze filled the air.

"Hello, is anyone still training here!!"

Nothing. . .except for small booms that were heard far away, the distant thunder that threatened to invade.

Oh well, guess they already left. Which meant his mission was over, time to get to the safety of the caves himself. Naruto took one more look around the field, but saw nothing that looked suspicious. Deciding that there was indeed no one there, he leaped up and starting heading towards the mountain.

During his trip, Naruto looked to the east of the village, there he saw something that chilled him to the bones. Black clouds that spread all the way to the horizon, They were foreboding and filled the young boy with fear. He could never dream that something of nature could be so evil looking. He knew that the precaution that the Hokage was taking wasn't for nothing, he dreaded what was coming.

* * *

"You think that was the last one, Yunibi said that once all the training grounds were clear, and the civilians were taken to the cave, the town would be clear" A woman said. She was hiding in the bushes, talking to her partner. They were spying on a boy, a leaf genin from the looks of it. They could tell he was trying to collect all the ninjas training so they would be safe from the storm. The woman was of average height, long brown hair that went just below her back. She had black, lifeless eyes, ones that have seen death many times. She wore a hidden village of mist headband, but the symbol wore a long, deep slash down the middle. She was covered with leaves, to better blend into the forest. Rubbing the long jagged scar down her left eye, she once again spoke.

"So, what do you think we should do? We don't have much time until the storm hits."

"Damn it Serora, how should I know, I am not the leader of this rag tag band of outlaws. I just follow Yunibi's orders. For now, I say we just go back to the campsite, and wait. I'm sure he has something more for us to do." He growled at her. He was also a missing-nin. Accept he was from the hidden village of sand. He was bald, with dark green eyes and a perfectly clean face. A rarity for someone with so much battle experience. He too was covered with leaves.

"Whatever." The woman responded.

At that, the two missing-nins leaped up and started for their group's campsite. They knew that what was ahead was worth teaming up and forming such a group. Even though none of them trusted each other, they had to unite. Other wise, breaking into the village during the storm and taking everything was going to be extremely difficult. Hopefully, they thought, everything will go as planned.

* * *

Naruto landed on a small plateau that held one of the many entrances to the cave. He knew that the storm's outer edge was already upon them. Minutes before finally arriving, the wind picked up dramatically, and the sounds of thunder were like a ever increasing army. Taking one last glance at the incoming storm, he walked into the cave.

Walking down a long corridor, ceiling lights barely illuminating his path. The tunnel slowly turned and he could see a glow, which signified the end of the corridor. Walking into a wide open space, the ceiling reaching about 20 feet up, with hundreds of villages leaning up against walls, laying down or inside make shift tents. He was able to see Tsunade talking to some villagers in the center..

Noticing the young chunin, she finished her conversation and walked over to a bag. Reaching inside she grabbed a jacket and tuned; heading towards Naruto.

"Her you go Naruto, forgot to give this to you in my office. So I take that your mission is complete?"

Naruto looked up and took the flak jacket. He took off his over sized orange coat and replaced it with the green chunin jacket. The entire time a smile spread over his face.

"Yeah yeah, its all done."

"Good."

"So where is Hinata and Sakura?"

"Hinita is on the level below this with her clan, and Sakura is in the make-shift hospital. Its just through that tunnel." Tsunade pointed at a tunnel, opposite of the one Naruto came in. "It has its own generator, so even if the generator that powers the main floors goes out, they still have that one as a backup. Shes probably with Sasuke, it was too dangerous to just keep him in the jail during the storm, but also to dangerous to let him out. So we just drugged him and now hes unconscious, ANBU members nearby of course."

"Okay, thanks" Naruto was already half-way to the stairs when he yelled back.

Smiling softly, Tsunade turned back to some villagers to help with set up their sleeping areas.

* * *

"Hinata-chan!!" Naruto yelled, seeing the white eyed girl sitting on one of the many benches that covered the floor. The girl looked up startled, but soon relaxed at realizing who it was. She stood up too greet him.

"Oh, hello Naru. . ." She was cut off as the blond haired boy grabbed her in an enormous hug and swung her around. Before finally placing the small girl down, he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I see you got all you family here in one piece"

Hinata couldn't speak, she felt her family staring daggers at her and Naruto. They didn't know about her and Naruto, and was sure they wouldn't be pleased. Hinata looked up to see a big grin on the blond's face. He was clueless.

"Hinata?"

Hinata and Naruto turned to the sound of the voice. Looking up to see the face of a man. He had long black hair, and the familiar Hyuuga white eyes. Naruto knew he seen this guy before, but where?

"Father, hello."

"Why did Naruto do that to you, is there something you haven't told me?"

"Well, um . . . w . . .e."

For the second time today, Naruto was about to finish the line, why did she have such a hard time telling people about them. He was about to open his mouth, then he realized the glare Hinata was casting at him, it was definitely a sign too shut up.

Hinata breathed in, she had to do this. "Father, me and Naruto are going out."

Hinata's father stood there silent, no expression on his face. Finally he looked at Hinata and then at Naruto. Grabbing Naruto by the shoulders, he led the boy away. Once a good distance from Hinata, he stopped and looked down.

"Listen Naruto, I'm going to go along with this, I know that my daughter has had a crush on you for a while, and I'm not going to take this away from her. Just because I'm disappointed in the fact she isn't turning out to be a strong heir, it doesn't mean I still don't love and care for her."

Naruto stood quit, and just listened

"Also," the white eyed man continued. "If you break her heart in anyway, and I mean any way, I will personally hunt you down and beat you so bad that that damn fox inside of you will be crying for mercy. You understand?"

Naruto was terrified of the threats he was receiving from his girlfriend's father, but he knew he wouldn't do anything to hurt the girl. He simply nodded.

The two went back over to Hinata, she was more nervous then ever, playing with her fingers like she normally did.

"Well, I'm glad you finally got him Hinata, well I have things to do. You enjoy your self." The man turned and walked away

"Naruto-kun, what did he tell you?"

"Nothing, nothing at all. Don't worry, hes happy." Naruto could see the girl brighten up. She was really scared about how her family would react, he though; I'm glad they took it well. "So Hinata, you want to come with me to see Sakura, I want to show her that I'm a chunin now."

Before Hinata could respond, she was interrupted by a shout. Looking in the direction it came from, she was able to see Shikamaru and Temari rushing towards them.

"Naruto, have seen Chouji?" Shikamaru question as he got close to the two.

"No, I haven't seen him since I visited him two days ago. Why?"

"Well he was supposed to still be in the Hospital, but I already checked where they were keeping the patiences. Then later on, I ran into his father, who was also looking for him. It seems that the hospital let him out early, and him and Ino went to train. You had to see them at one of the fields."

"No I didn't, I'm not stupid, I checked all the fields completely, there was nobody left."

"Ugh!! this is so troublesome."

"Come on, I'm sure hes somewhere in the caves."

"No, Chouji's father, Temari and I have been looking for him and Ino the entire time. We can't find them"

"That means, that they must still be outside. But where?"

"I don't know, we have to go look for them. The storm will be here in full soon"

"Okay, lets go. Hinata you want to come?"

"Yes"

On the way up the stairs, Shikamaru noticed Naruto wearing the same jacket that he wore.

"Naruto, when did you become a chunin?

"Around noon, cool isn't it"

"Well, I'm a chunin too, its nothing special, only difference is that things become more troublesome."

"Whatever, you don't appreciate anything."

They found themselves back in the main room. Tsunade was still helping out some villagers. The four went up to her quickly.

"Hokage-sama, we need to go look for Chouji and Ino, we can't find them here, they might still might be outside. We need to go before the full force of the storm is here." Shikamaru was hoping she would agree, so they can get on their way.

"I'm sorry guys, but its too late. The storm is already here in full force . . ."


	6. Captured

AN: Well here we are. Another chapter. I'm unhappy to say that chapter 7 might take some time to post. It might take a while for two reasons. 1: It will mainly consist of one big fight scene, it will take some time to write it, and to make it good. 2: Hurricane Frances is right over me right now. Luckily the power hasn't gone out yet. But, it will sooner or later, and without power, there is no computer (duh). Sucks, that I just got hit by Hurricane Charley, which gave me the ideal to write this fic, and now we get hit by another Hurricane, just 3 weeks later. I personally think that we are God's Simcity, and he used the Disaster button more then he should have. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW, your REVIEWS ARE WHAT KEEP ME WRITING. Otherwise, like my favorite character would say; It's just too troublesome. Oh and I didn't have a beta for this chapter, so mistakes are probably abundant. Sorry about that. Well, once again R&R!!!

Chapter 6: Captured

In an instance, the world blinked back into his eyes. In front of him were sights of something fierce. The winds were blowing through the forest at dangerous levels, and debris littered the air. Trying to stand, he realized that he was being held down by something. He looked down and found Ino, arms tightly wrapped around him.

"Ino, it seems a storm has come, we need to go home."

"Just a couple more minutes mom . . ."

Smiling at the delusions of the girl on his lap, he grabbed her shoulder and shook it vigorously.

"What the. . . I'm up!!!"

The girl bolted up, looking around in confusion. It was hard to see. It was past nightfall, and the moon was barely visible through the thick clouds overhead. They each stood completely up and took account of their surroundings. Chouji looked over at the girl.

"Wow this came out of nowhere."

"Yeah I know, We should hurry up and get home, my parents are probably worried to death."

They each began to walk out of the dense woods in which they slept. Emerging from the forest and out into the training grounds, they were slammed with gusts of winds that threatened to make the two lose their footing.

"Damn, this storm isn't normal, I can barely keep my balance." Ino stated, with a hint of fear in her voice.

Without warning, a massive gust of wind blazed through, causing several trees on the edge of the field to fall over. The gust almost made Chouji falter and fall, but it succeeded in causing Ino to crash to the ground, back first, her head snapping back and hitting the ground with a sickening thud.

"Ino!!"

The once husky boy fought his way over to the girl. Her face was contorted into a grimace. Pain was shooting through her head, and seeped its way down her neck.

"I'm okay, don't worry. Damn that gust was strong, this isn't a normal storm." The blond strained to get to her knees, and slowly climbed up to a stand. Shifting her feet to gain some balance from the dizziness she felt, she once again spoke.

"I don't thank I can take another fall like that Chouji, what do you think we should do."

He didn't have an immediate answer. They could try to fight the storm, and get home. But from the looks of things, the storm was just now beginning, the heaviest of winds still haven't shown. Maybe they could find shelter, a cave would do nicely. Whether or not a cave was nearby however, was a complete mystery.

"I don't think we can get home, its coming from the village's direction, the closer we get, the stronger the winds will become. I thought of maybe using chakra to stick to the ground. But from the look of this storm, that wont last for long. Only option is to find shelter, you know of any caves nearby?"

"Well actually, I think there is one of there. Its not very big, but it should be plenty for us two to stay in."

"Great, lets get there as fast as we can, and remember use chakra to stick to the ground, you don't want to get blown off balance again."

"Right"

Both brought their hands up, and formed a seal. They focused their chakra into their feet. Chouji nodded to Ino, signify for her to lead the way. She started running, Chouji right behind her. They were unable to go too fast, the wind of the storm threated to blow them away if they lost too much focus. Plus they had to go slow to dodge the numerous projectiles. The wind was lashing at them with a plethora of deadly items. Ino knew about an old cave. She used to come here with Sakura and the other girls when they were little. They considered it the headquarters for the "I love Sasuke" fan club. She couldn't help but to smile, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

Even through the harsh winds, they were able to make it to the cave. The hole was small, the entrance wouldn't allow more then one full grown man it at once. Looking around one final time, they knew that they found shelter just in time. The winds grew even stronger. Trees that seemed defiant were easily brushed aside by the power of the typhoon. They quickly stepped inside.

They slowly walked down the opening in the rock. It slowly gained in width allowing the couple to walk side-by-side. Nearing an opening, they could see a light flicker on the rock and heard the feint sound of conversation. Turning to each other, they knew they weren't alone in the cave.

They crept up to the opening, and crouched behind a stalagmite. They were able to see three figures hurdled around a campfire. Each were wearing brown overcoats. And they each had a village head-band wrapped around there foreheads. They didn't seem to notice the new leaf ninjas that just began to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Where the hell is Serora and Marduk?" A man said, a village of cloud's headband adorned his forehead. But it was violently scratched, and a deep gash went horizontal through the symbol.

"How would I know?" Another responded. Also wearing a village of cloud's slashed headband.

"Who do you think they are" whispered Ino

"I guess they are just some missing-nin who are in here because of the storm."

"What should we do?"

"I don't know, lets just listen for now."

The two who previously spoke began to bicker back and forth, talking about who gets what. Chouji found nothing interesting in their conversation, until one spoke about Konoha.

"So, let me get this right Yunibi,"one of the man began, "We are going to go into the village and steal everything we can, money, scrolls, books, weapons, and everything else all during this storm?"

A tall built man, with a slashed headband from the village of stone looked at his confused subordinate. "No, we will wait until the eye of the storm is overhead. The eye will be calm, giving us the chance to easily get into the village and take everything. Understand?"

"Oh, okay thats good. Thought we would have to go through the hell that is right outside now."

Ino let out a small gasp, she heard of the plans those missing-nins had in mind. As ninjas of Konoha, there were obliged to do something about it. She turned to Chouji, hoping he was thinking the same thing, and had formed a planned. "What do we do?"

"We ca . . ." He started, but immediately was cut off.

They both found cold metal being pressed against there throats.

"Hmm, seems we have two rats here." A woman said.

The three around the campfire heard there comrades voice and looked up. There they found their two partners holding two leaf genins, each with a kunai to their neck.

* * *

"What do you mean its too late, its never too late." Shikamaru yelled, something he rarely did.

"I'm sorry, but the storm is just too powerful, you won't get far, especially considering you don't know their location." It hurt Tsunade to say such things, but she wasn't going to lose two chunins on a mission that they didn't know where they were heading and whether or not their friends were already safe. It was too risky.

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, Chouji and Ino are my best friends, I'm going whether or not you give me permission." Shikamaru's eyes were narrowed as he hissed out his claim.

A silver haired junin, just happen to hear the conversation between the the two. Deciding it was best for him to act, he stepped in.

"Hokage-sama, I believe I can help, I'll give them Pakkun, he should be able to easily lead them to the two that are missing." His only visible eye didn't show the slightest moment or emotion.

"Kakashi, who gave you permission to butt in?"

"I'm sure this would make a good mission. Just send Shikamaru and Naruto there, they are both chunins, they can handle themselves."

"Pfft, there might not be a reason to go, those two could be safe, or they could already be . . ."

"I know Hokage-sama," Kakashi interrupted. "but if we send someone out, there will be no way to say we didn't try."

Sighing deeply, Tsunade thought; she didn't want to send them out in the hell that was beating away at their village. But it seems to be the best choice overall, now thinking about those two out their suffering in the storm. It made here heart skip a beat.

"Fine, only Shikamaru and Naruto will go."

"Good, I will summon Pakkun." Using his kunai, Kakashi drew some blood from his thumb. Forming the seals; Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram. He slammed his palm into the rocky ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Black lines seeped out from where his hand impacted, and a cloud of smoke puffed out.

"Gah, not again." A voice from below trailed up.

"Man, not that stupid mutt again."

"Stupid mutt? Don't call me that you stupid lazy kid."

"Whats wrong with being lazy?"

"Would you two shut up!!" Naruto yelled. "We have a mission, lets get this thing going."

"Before you three go, remember that the winds are strong, stay low on the ground and use chakra to stay attached."

"Okay Hokage-sama" The two responded.

"One of you two will have to carry me, I don't have the ability to stay attached, just zip me up in your jacket." The small dog demanded.

"Naruto, hes talking to you."

"Shut up Shikamaru, hes talking to you!"

"Carrying him will be too troublesome, you do it."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I've been a chunin the longest, that makes me the leader."

Naruto began to steam, he pointed at Shikamaru, who still had a lazy look on his face. He yelled; "Your not the leader, I'm the leader, I can beat you any day, I'm the future Hokage!!!"

Tsunade smacked herself in the forehead, god I hope this isn't a mistake. "Naruto, you carry the dog."

"But . . ."

"Just do it, I'm ordering you too."

"Fine." Naruto unzipped his jacket and bent down. Carefully he placed the small dog in it and and wrapped it around them both. After zipping it up, the only visible portion of the dog was his head poking up just under Naruto's chin.

"Oh my God!! thats so cute!" Hinata and Temari squealed in unison.

"NO ITS NOT!!"

Kakashi just sighed, even if those two were some of the best chunins in the village, they still acted so immature. "Would you two just go already."

Shikamaru and Naruto both nodded, giving both of their girlfriends a hug, they started for the tunnel that led to the base of the cave. Finally emerging out into the forest, they were confronted by screaming winds. The howl sounded like a million wolves, ready to pounce.

"Well dumb dog, do you smell anything?"

"I smell something, actually I smell a lot of things, the wind is really messing with things. But, I'm the best, and I do pick up a faint smell of jasmine."

"Jasmine? thats the shampoo that Ino uses, where is it coming from?"

"That way." The dogged pulled out his paw and pointed in the direction.

"Alright Naruto, lets go."

"Okay."

The two focused chakra to their feet and started towards the direction the dog pointed out.

* * *

"So Yunibi, what do we do with them?" Serora questioned.

"Well." Yunibi began.

"I say we slice their throats and gamble on which blood drop hits the ground first." One of the man said. He wore an evil smile, and a gleam of anticipation filled his eyes.

Yunibi, looked at the man, and frowned. With a blur, Yunibi's hand flew from its relaxed position on his lap, slamming against the head of the man who spoke. The blow sent the cloud ninja flying back, and he finally came to a stop by slamming into the cave wall.

"Don't ever interrupt me again!" Yunibi hissed.

"Sorry, sorry, I just got excited."

"Sorry about that Serora, let me continue." Yunibi turned back to the woman. Her and her partner, Marduk, were the only ones he really trusted. Even though they met only a few months ago, he picked up on their personality quick. They were more honorable then most , and the other two he was with were nothing but stupid, blood lusty morons. "They are only children, and I wouldn't want to kill them for no reason. But if they try to escape or attack us I will kill them without a second thought. For now I say we just keep them tied up, and either let them go after our mission, or use them for ransom."

"Sounds good." She replied.

Chouji felt some relief, at least he was lucky enough to get caught by honorable criminals, he didn't know a thing like that even existed. He decided he would just lay low, no reason to try to stir something up when he didn't need too. He looked over at Ino, her hands chained tightly behind her back.

"Did you hear that, we should be okay If we just stay quiet. They outnumber us, and I don't think we can do anything. Especially since we are tied up, we cant use any seals."

"Yeah, Lets just lay low." She respond, her voice was low.

The people in the cave became quit. The only noise were the sounds of the storm's rage outside and snoring from the now sleeping Ino. Chouji looked around, it seems that the three known as Yunibi, Serora and Marduk were somewhat content on leaving them alive. Luckily, Yunibi was the leader, and he seemed very powerful and able to dish out the justice if his comrades got out of hand. Serora was somewhat of a beautiful woman, the only blemish on her features was a long scar on her face. Marduk, was still a mystery, he barely spoke, and when he did he only responded with very smart ass comments. Looking around he was able to see the other two of the group sitting together. They were talking amongst themselves, and then one pointed at Ino, while the other one laughed. Chouji was afraid, what the hell did they have in mind.

One of the cloud ninjas rose and slowly walked over to Ino. He bent down and looked at the girl with a sadistic smile. Licking his lips he reached up and moved a piece of her blond hair away from her face, and lifted it to his nose. "Mmmm, jasmine."

"Don't you dare touch her." Chouji hissed, he felt his head become red with rage. "If you do; I will kill you."

"Haha kid, what can you do. Your all tied up, you cant do anything."

Chouji's heart exploded in raw anger, he would tear him apart. He used all his strength to pull at the chains around his wrist and ankles. But they didn't budge. He was helpless and couldn't come to the rescue of the one he loved.

"This will be fun." The missing-nin reached up with his hand, softly rubbing Ino's pale cheeks. "I can't wait."

Seconds before the ninjas lips touched Ino's, A kunai screamed bye the cloud ninjas cheek. He whirled around, blood twinkling from his cheek and down his neck.

"If you touch that girl, I will personally skin you alive, you worthless bastard." Serora heaved, hate filled her eyes. She wad dead serious.

"What do you care, shes just a stupid girl from Konoha." The man was filled with hatred for the woman, but he felt just as much fear. The woman would be able to kill him easily. He slowly backed away from the girl. Serora's eyes watched him closely, her eyes were terrifying he thought.

"I don't care about whether she lives or not. But as a fellow female, I won't let your perverted, lustful hands touch her. I will say it once more, if you come close to here again. I will kill you."

Chouji looked over at Serora, he was filled with gratitude. "Thank you, for saving her from that bastard."

"No problem." She said simply.

* * *

After a long, rough journey, they found themselves at the entrance to a cave. Hope filled the two ninjas, it seemed their friends were able to find safely.

"Well what are we waiting for, lets go." Naruto said as he lead the way.

They two chunins, along with the tracking dog started through the rocky tunnel. As they walked, they could see a flicker of light, and heard conversation floating towards them. The two slowed to a crawl, and crept up to a stalagmite. There they were able to see five people huddled around a campfire. Then Naruto gasped, and tapped Shikamaru shoulders. Shikamaru looked over at Naruto questionably. Naruto pointed, and Shikamaru followed the blond's arm.

There he found Ino and Chouji tied up, back against a wall. Ino was sleeping and Chouji was talking to one of there captures.

"Thank you, for saving her from that bastard." they heard him say.

The woman responded. "No problem."

Shikamaru leaned over to Naruto and whispered into his ear. "I have a plan."


	7. The Eye

A/N: Holy long as hell chapter Batman!! Anyway, here we go, chapter 7. Chapter 8 will be much shorter and will be the end of our little story. . . hopefully. Anyway, I only got 1 review for chapter 6. I'm just wondering if anyone even reads my story anymore. Anyway, sorry for taking so long. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REVIEW!!!!!! Your reviews are like writing candy, and without a review candy high, I won't write. Oh, mistakes will be abundant, no beta reader.

Warning: This chapter contains violence and blood shed.

* * *

Chapter 7:

"Do you understand Naruto?"

"Yes yes, its simple, even I can't mess up at doing what I do best."

"You mean being loud and annoying?"

"Yeah . . . hey wait a minute; annoying?"

"Just shut it, and get ready."

The two chunins covered themselves well behind the rock formation. Their plan was simple, but whether or not its simplicity made for an easy execution was yet to be seen. Shikamaru nodded to Naruto, the sign for the plan to commence. Breathing deeply, Naruto shot up and out behind the stalagmite.

"HEY YOU DUMB NINJAS, I'M UZAMAKI NARUTO, THE NEXT LEAF HOKAGE!!!"

All but Yunibi were caught off guard from the loudmouth blond's interruption. At first the other four were confused on why a boy would do such a stupid, life threatening thing. The pervert who touched Ino was the first to push away his initial confusion and jumped to his feet. Yunibi on the other hand; sat and stared at Naruto with fear and curiosity.

"Who the hell are you, boy?" The cloud-nin demanded.

Naruto looked at the man with confusion, "Didn't I just tell you?"

"Stupid kid." The cloud-nin hissed as he drew a kunai and charged. He clenched his weapon hard and brought it up to his face, ready to plow straight into the boy with its deadly tip. Naruto just stood there, as if nothing was happening and he had not one care in the world. The cloud-nin let out a battle cry within feet of Naruto's delicate neck. Feet became inches, and the knife was still in hand, only seconds away from driving deep into the boys unprotected flesh.

The charging stopped, the kunai's tip barely touching the blond's neck, causing a single drop of blood to be released. The man immediately went from the death strike stance on the leaf chunin too a relaxed crouch, his arm now hanging limply over his knee.

"Damn Shikamaru, took you long enough." Naruto said as he pulled back from the now crouching man. He rubbed his neck where the kunai penetrated only centimeters, small amounts of blood smearing in his hand.

"Yeah whatever . . ." Shikamaru trailed off, mumbling about how troublesome life was.

"What the hell, I can't move, someone help me!!" The cloud-nin who attacked Naruto screamed.

Serora looked up at the man. "We would if we could, but we are in the same jutsu."

Shikamaru stood up, revealing himself to the rest of the cave's inhabitants. The four around the fire and the ninja who rushed Naruto also stood up. Yunibi spotted a long shadow coming around the stalagmite ahead, under the cloud-nin and ran along close to the cave walls. It kept going around the wall until Yunibi lost track of it due to his inability to move his own head.

"So this must be the famous leaf's hidden technique; The Shadow Bind? You must have gotten it behind us while we were distracted by that boy and our stupid partner's blinded rush." Yunibi question the boy in front.

"Crap, how many times must I have to repeat myself, its once referred to as that, but now its the Shadow Imitation. But yes, that was the plan." Shikamaru responded, thinking how troublesome it was to repeat himself every time he used his family's jutsu on outside ninjas.

"NARUTO!!! What are you waiting for, come untie us!!" Chouji screamed at the blond who seemed to be ignoring his two chained up friends.

"I will, just hold on!" He barked back.

Naruto pushed past the cloud-nin and walked over to where Chouji and Ino were sitting. Half-way Naruto noticed one of the missing-nin eying him, a tall man with a hidden village of Stone head-band, his expression a mix between fear and wonder. Bending down, he noticed that his friends were chained together with very thick steel, noway he would be able to break them with his strength alone.

"Where's the key?" Naruto asked too no one in particular.

"Over here kid." The man who was eying him said.

Cautiously Naruto went up to the man who nodded towards his left coat pocket. Reaching deep inside he felt the cold metal of the key and pulled it out in triumph. Before he left the man's side however, he heard him whisper something into his ear that made his blood freeze.

"Your Kyuubi's container, aren't you kid?" The man whispered into his ear.

"I don't know what your talking about." Naruto quietly denied.

"Sure kid, whatever, I'll just ask your friends here if they know what I'm talking about."

"No, don't say anything."

"Ha, so they don't know about it."

"Please, don't say anything."

"Fine, I'll be silent for now, but you owe me one."

Naruto nodded, thankful that the man wouldn't reveal his secret. Walking back over to his friends he unlocked the deadbolt on them both. Ino fully awake now, thanked Naruto and together they crossed by the four missing-nins and past the stalagmite too stand next to Shikamaru.

"What now Shikamaru?" Chouji questioned his best friend as he shot the missing-nin who attacked Naruto and tried to pull something sick on Ino a deathly glare. Looking at the man, who now was defenseless, Chouji couldn't help but briefly consider to slice the man's throat open right here.

"Simple." He replied. Forming a seal, shadowy hands began to wriggle their black death up the five caught in the shadow imitation. Only inches away from their target, Chouji interrupted.

"Shika, no. Don't kill the woman, she helped earlier, I have to repay her. But the others . . .kill them."

Yunibi glared at Naruto. "Boy, you owe me, let me and that man live" he pointed towards Marduk. "You may do what you wish with the other two."

The two cloud-nins began to curse Yunibi, then started to beg Shikamaru for their lives. Unfortunately, Shikamaru thought that them being alive would be . . . too troublesome. The black hands wrapped their death grip around the cloud-nin's neck and squeezed. They began to scream before the hands' grip cut off their air. Finally, after the Shadow hand pulled away, the cloud-nins both fell to the grown, tongues hanging from their mouth, eyes rolled back towards their head.

Ino felt sick, shes never seen her best friend kill someone, especially in such a brutal way. Shikamaru looked over to Naruto with a questioning glare. "What deal did you make with that man when you went to get the key, what were you talking about?"

"Nothing, its not important. Just forget it."

"Forget it? Your not telling me something, how can we work together if we aren't fully aware of the decisions our teammate makes."

"Just forget about it Shikamaru, it doesn't matter now. Lets just worry about getting away."

"Troublesome loud . ." Shikamaru trailed off once again, rambling on about the blond haired chunin.

"Anyone of you two have a explosive tag?" Chouji questioned.

Naruto understanding what the boy meant, took out his kunai and attached a explosive tag to it. Walking over to the cave wall, he slammed the tip of the kunai into it, the tag dangling down.

Slowly they all stepped back, as did the three still living missing nin. Finally they couldn't go any farther, the missing-nin were being blocked by the cave wall on the opposite side. Shikamaru nodded to Naruto who got ready.

Releasing the Shadow Imitation Jutsu, Shikamaru turned and ran. Naruto pointed at the explosive tag and released some chakra. The tag went off, the explosion tearing through the cave, the heat met Naruto's back as he turned and sprinted towards the cave's opening. The cave tunnel collapsed, filling up with rocks and boulders, the exit completely sealed off from the three missing-nin who were now on the ground from the explosion's impact.

Shikamaru and Naruto emerged from the cave, meeting up with Chouji and Ino. It was silent, not a single breeze moved threw the the air. It was dead calm.

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru and asked, "Is the storm over?"

"No." he responded, "Its only the eye, the storm is only half-way done."

"You guys don't need me anymore, you guys can find the way back right?" Pakkun question from the Naruto's jacket.

"Yes, your job is over, you can leave now." Replied Shikamaru.

The tracking dog exploded in a puff of smoke. Which sent Naruto into a coughing fit. "Stupid dog!" he yelled.

"This calm is perfect for travel, hurry lets go." Shikamaru ordered.

Together the four leaped towards a tree and started their journey back.

* * *

Yunibi stood up, like his partners next to him, he began to cough from the dust the explosion kicked up. Looking over at Marduk he nodded. Marduk understood the signal and walked up to the pile of fallen boulders. He placed his palm on the surface and concentrated. Forcing a load of chakra through his arm and out his hand. He let out a yell as the boulders exploded outward, clearing the path to the exit.

Emerging out of the cave, they found that the eye of the storm was overhead, the calmness unsettling. Their planned ruin because of the leaf ninjas, Yunibi was tempted to just leave and forget the entire thing. However, since the revealing of the Kyuubi kid, he knew that there was a bigger prize now. His contact with the criminal group Akatsuki said that they were trying to capture this kid, if he could get him, the reward would be spectacular. He couldn't pass this chance up.

"Serora, Marduk. that Naruto kid, hes the container of the Kyuubi. We must capture him, for the reward will be great."

The two were shocked, they only heard rumors about the nine-tail demon fox that attacked the Fire Country 12 years ago. They had no idea that it was contained in a child, and wasn't killed. Yet they trusted Yunibi, and decided to go along. Serora easily pin-pointed the chakra signatures of the leaf ninjas and together they darted off after them.

* * *

The four leaf ninjas leaped from limb to limb. They fought there way through the cold night, the only light was that of the moon that shined down through the eye of the angry storm. They each thought the worst was over. Their enemies laid in a cave far behind, unable to do anything to them now. They felt safe.

Ino was behind Chouji, she was looking at her new boyfriend with awe. His movements were graceful and nothing like the old Chouji of over the two weeks. Suddenly she was jolted out of her reverie with a hard kick in the side. She was launched sideways, flying several meters before finally slamming into the thick bark of an old tree. She let out a blood curling scream as the pain tore through her body. She slowly slid down, and came to rest on the one of the many branches.

Chouji looked just in time to see the girl impact the tree, but before he could rush to her aid, he was confronted with a sharp strike to his jaw in mid-air. Flying backwards he slammed hard into a tree, sinking deep into the bark, wood splinters exploding outwards as the genin left a crater then finally he fell through the canopy, smashing hard into the ground below.

Shikamaru looked back just in time to see his two friends attacked from unseen forces. Before he could move and help, he too was dealt a blow. A hard elbow to the back of his head sent him spinning violently into a tree, crashing shoulder first into the hard trunk. He fell and landed on his stomach on a thick branch below. The air was pulled from his lungs and he laid dangling over a branch.

Naruto landed on a branch and looked back. He was able to just see Shikamaru crash into a tree. Yelling the lazy chunin's name, he jumped over towards the tree, but was cut off by three figures.

"Thought you could get away that easy, boy?" Yunibi questioned

"You? How did you get out of the cave?"

"What a stupid question."

"Shut up, It doesn't matter, for I will kill you for hurting my friends."

"Whatever kid, if you come with us, We won't be force to end your friends' lives."

"Why would you want me?"

"Dumb kid, your the container of the Kyuubi, and the Akatsuki will be pleased to have you in their possession."

"Akatsuki?" Naruto didn't quit remember the name, but he knew he heard of it before. Then realization dawned on him. It was the organization that Itachi was apart of. They wanted him for the demon inside of him. "I will never go with you, I can kick your asses easily."

"Very well," Yunibi snickered. "Seems we have to do this the hard way."

The three readied themselves in their fighting stance. They simultaneously launched themselves at the boy. Naruto easily back flipped; dodging the incoming trio and landed on a higher branch. Grinning as he lifted his hand for a familiar seal. He yelled out; "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

* * *

Chouji slowly got to his feet. He looked up and made out the faint outline of six people fighting it out. Concerning himself with that later, he quickly jumped towards where he saw Ino land. Landing next to her, he was relieved to find her with eyes open.

"You alright." He asked

"I'm fine, just leave me here and go help Shikamaru and Naruto."

"Okay, but stay here and don't interfere please. For you own good."

Ino nodded and Chouji reluctantly left here side. Scanning in a circle he was finally able to see Shikamaru on a branch slowing getting up. He rushed over to his friend's side. He was bleeding from the back of his head, and he held onto his shoulder. It looked to be dislocated. Chouji knew what he had to do.

"What are you doing?" Shikamaru asked as Chouji who took hold of the shoulder and made sure he had a firm grip on it.

"You know."

"How troubleso . . ." he was cut off by blinding pain that tore through his body. His shoulder now back in its rightful place, he moved it around too test out it functionality.

"Thanks . . . I guess."

"No problem."

"Hows Ino?"  
  
"She's fine, but we need to go help Naruto, hes fighting those three alone."

Shikamaru understood and together they headed towards the sound of battle taking place only several hundred meters away.

* * *

"Child, you have no way to beat us, just stop your suffering and come along. You can't beat us alone." Yunibi hissed. He just dodged a spinning kick from one of Naruto's shadow clones. He had to admit, the boy was advanced in skill for his age. But it didn't come anywhere close to what he needed to defeat him. The shadow clone once again came out Yunibi, this time for a right hook to the jaw. Yunibi easily sidestepped the oncoming attack and grabbed hold of the clones wrist. Twisting it, he heard the sounds of bone snapping and the clone let out a scream of pain as it exploded into a puff of smoke.

Another clone flew back into a tree, crashing hard into it. Before finally exploding into a cloud of smoke he let out a scream of pain. Serora stood at the small crater the clone left, and smiled to herself for a job well done. The clones were easily dealt with, the real kid should also be easily defeated.

Naruto flipped back onto a branch, breathing slightly heavier from his previous attack on the three missing-nin. He crossed his arms and twisted his face in hate. "I'll beat you Yunibi, and one more thing." He released his arms from around his body and pointed at the rock-nin. "Who said I was alone?"

Before Yunibi and his two partners could register what the boy meant, they all found a an array of shurikens and kunai screaming through the air, heading straight towards them. Yunibi easily dodged them, as did Serora. But Marduk was just a little to slow to react, and several kunai embedded their sharp points deep into the man's left leg and right shoulder. Staggering from the pain, he bent down and pulled the two kunai that were in his leg out, blood shooting out from the now unplugged wound. Before he could do the same to the weapons in his shoulder, he was confronted with strong kick to his face, sending waves of pain through his nose and down his spine. Falling backwards, he landed on a branch below, eyes shut in excruciating pain. Slowly he opened his eyes, to find a figure hovering over him. The figure wore baggy cloths, and his white scarf flapped sideways in the wind. "Your the one that hit Ino. I will kill you for that." The figure growled angrily.

Back up top, Serora screamed Marduk's name as he saw her partner fall towards the ground. Just as she went to help her friend, she found with horror, that her body betrayed her.

"Hey, don't forget about me." Shikamaru mocked from a branch below. His shadow snaked up the tree and took hold of the mist-nin's body.

"Damn shadow user. . ." Serora cursed. Looking over at Yunibi for help he saw the man take out several shurikens. In a blur he whirled around and threw the deadly stars at the shadow using leaf-nin. Unable to dodge and keep the jutsu, he new he had to release it. He leaped to the side, barely missing the shurikens. Freed from her shadow prison, Serora released a sigh of thanks.

"Take care of the shadow kid. Marduk will be able to hold his own against the other boy. I will deal with the demon kid myself." Yunibi ordered. Serora nodded in compliance and went after Shikamaru.

"So it looks like its just me and you demon kid."

"Yeah, lets stop the chit-chat so I can kick her sorry ass."

* * *

"How troublesome, once again I have to fight a woman. Why in hell couldn't it have been her to kick Ino, that way Chouji could have fought her." Shikamaru was complaining inside his head. He never seen Chouji physically get so worked up over Ino getting injured. Did something between those two change. Well, it didn't matter, he thought. I have more troublesome things to deal with now.

Creating some distance between Naruto and that Yunibi guy, Shikamaru finally came to a halt on a long thick tree branch. He stood there and smiled. He quickly laid out his plan and got ready for the woman to arrive.

Serora steamed through the forest at her highest pace. Finally after a minute of jumping she was able to see the leaf-nin standing on a branch, arms behind his head. How stupid was he, just to sit there in a casual stance she thought. Oh well, looks like she can kill him quickly and get back to aid Marduk.

Not getting to close in fear of his shadow, Serora stood opposite of the boy. Using a long range attack would prove the better choice. Forming seals with her hand, she yelled. "Mist Water-ball!!" Moister in the air began to circulate at extremes speeds. Then shooting out from in front of Serora, the ball of compressed water split threw the air headed for Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked at the projectile heading straight for him, but didn't move. The water ball slammed head on into the boy. The compressed water and intense speed caused the boy to be forced back and off the branch. Flying several meters through the air, he finally slammed into a tree, his spine snapped and he fell to the ground.

Serora commented on the stupidity of the boy and rushed over to him. Kicking the lifeless body to make sure he wad dead, he smiled at herself for easily defeating the boy. Turning around, ready to leave so she could go aid Marduk, she got a glimpse of a piece of paper swaying in the wind to the side of her head. Looking over she saw a explosive tag, hanging off of a kunai stuck deep into the wood. Cursing, she tried to run away as fast has she could, but she found her body once again betraying her. Looking down she saw a dark shadow. She followed the pitch black shadow through the forest. She finally found the end of it, there stood the boy she just killed. "How?" was all she could get out when she saw the boy at her feet explode into a puff of smoke. She cursed herself; it was a replication.

Shikamaru laughed. "Wow, it seems that all girls fall for the; create a shadow replication and hide behind a tree trick." He laughed once again. "Well it seems all bets from earlier are off." Sighing to himself, not sure if he really wanted to kill again. But as a ninja, these things were required, and hopefully he could deal with it. But the woman would be troublesome if left alive. And technically, he didn't hit her, so he wasn't some evil man. Pointing at the tag and releasing some chakra, he simultaneously let go of the shadow imitation. The tag went off before Serora could get out of the way, the explosion ripped threw here, burning away her flesh and blowing away her left arm. Flying head first into a tree, her skull split and she fell towards the ground; dead.

Shikamaru was blow back from the explosion, he didn't get as far from it as he would have liked, but he wasn't injured. Getting up from the ground slowly, he saw the burnt remains of the woman. He couldn't help but feel a tearing of his heat for killing a woman. But he once again told himself. "It had to be done." Sighing in remorse, he rushed off towards his friends, ready too help.

* * *

"I will kill you" Chouji yelled at the man who now laid on his back.

"Whatever kid, you just got a lucky shot on me, no more."

Marduk jumped to his feet and pulled out the kunai in his shoulder. He quickly took hold of it and slashed at his enemy with it. Chouji easily dodged it and came around with a kick to the back of the sand-nin's head. Chouji was glad he missed the kunai, for it was poisoned. Its the reasoned that this man he faced wouldn't have a chance against him. Marduk stumbled forward cursing. Spinning back around, he met up with the fist of Chouji's punch. The punch rammed fulled force into the sand-nin's nose, increasing the damage from the previous kick. The nose snapped under the force, and Marduk was sent flying backwards off the tree. He slammed hard into the ground below, the impact forcing blood to be thrown out from his mouth.

Chouji looked down at the man below, he thought that there was no reason to continue this fight anymore. Concentrating his chakra into his hands, he molded it until he felt the familiar feeling he had right after he took the third pill. Clenching his teeth he jumped of the branch, knees bent and his right arm pulled back ready to give the final blow to the sand-nin below. Halfway to the ground he let out a yell. "Choukaihou!!" (Butterfly Release) Chouji's left arm erupted in green chakra, it blazed up his arm and onto his back. There the chakra began to form. The green energy sprouted from Chouji's back, and took shape of wings. The green chakra spread out, lighting up the forest with its glow. Butterfly wings of chakra on his back, Chouji slammed into his enemy, his fist driving straight threw the sand-nin. The sound of bone giving way was sent flying through the forest. The man screamed as the leaf-nin's fist drove straight through his chest and into the ground below. The force left a huge crater, in which they both were now at the bottom of. Chouji sat up and saw the lifeless eyes of the man that he just killed. Wings of chakra still on his back, He jumped up to go help Naruto.

Halfway to where he left Naruto with Yunibi, he heard an powerful explosion. Landing on a branch, the light from his chakra wings lighting up the forest immensely. Standing still he slowly scouted out the forest ahead of him. After a few minutes he was able to see the figure of Shikamaru jumping from tree to tree. Happy that his best friend made it, he quickly went over too meet up with him.

* * *

Twice he had tried and failed, two Rasengans missed the rock-nin he faced. The first he missed completely, but the second had scratched the side of the man's waist. It left burnt flesh in its wake. The wound wasn't fatal however, it was more like a thorn in ones finger. The man he was fighting was more or less toying with him. He wanted Naruto alive and he couldn't do anything to the boy that might potentially kill him. Instead he decided that it would be best to tired him down, So one hard strike would be enough to knock him unconscious. Naruto dug deep into his brain trying to figure out a plan. Suddenly he was tore out his thoughts from a loud explosion. Looking over in the direction that that mist-nin chased after Shikamaru, he worried that the explosion might have killed his friend.

Naruto formed several more replications, each of them attacked Yunibi at the same time. The rock-nin easily destroyed them. "Your running low, I can tell." He hissed at Naruto.

Naruto, despite his insane stamina knew that he was right. He had formed over fifty replications already, and formed the Rasengan twice. But he still was nowhere near depleted.

Leaving one clone next to him, he was about to form yet another Rasengan, when a green glow caught his attention. Looking over he saw what appeared to be Chouji. The boy's arm was covered in green chakra, which trailed up towards his back. Naruto couldn't believe what he saw. Coming out of Chouji's back were green chakra wings of a butterfly. The sight was beautiful.

Chouji glanced over at Naruto before he charged Yunibi. Fist reached out, ready to plow straight through the rock-nin just as he did to the sand-nin.

Yunibi had other plans. He quickly formed a seal and performed his most unique jutsu. Yunibi skin turned hard, rock appeared from his back and spread swiftly over the man. Now covered in rock, his eyes glowing red, he looked at the charging boy. Setting himself up for the impact, he let the boy with the butterfly wings plow straight into the solid rock of the man's body. The boy's hand jammed, blooding splashing out from his knuckles.

Chouji jumped back astonished, the man was a walking boulder, and his head on punch didn't even dent it.

Shikamaru watched from the bushes, he had a back up plan just in case his best friends strength wasn't enough. Quickly he used his trademark jutsu.

Yunibi looked at the boy who just charged him. Growling in anger, his red eyes squinting, he began to rush at the boy. However, on his second step, he found that his body wouldn't obey him.

"Dammit, not again." The boulder covered man screamed. He looked down to find that same black shadow at his feet

"Hurry, hes too strong, I can't hold him for much longer!!" Shikamaru yelled from the side.

Chouji nodded and turned towards Naruto, he quickly told him what to do. Chouji jumped on the opposite side. Yunibi stood in the middle, between Naruto and Chouji; he wasn't sure what to expect.

Naruto, with his clone formed a Rasengan, the ball of swirling blue pulsed in his head. Chouji, focused as much as he could into his palm. The wings on his back crawled away and combined with the chakra in his fist. Seeing that Naruto was ready. He signaled to let their plan commence.

Naruto sprung forward, Rasengan in his palm, the blue hurricane in his hand heading straight towards Yunibi's face.

Chouji rushed forward, arm out, hand clinched into a fist; the green chakra glowing bright as he head for the stone-nin's mid-back. Inches before thy reached their target, they both let out a battle cry.

"Rasengan!!!"

"Choukaihou!!!"

The two met their mark as Shikamaru released his shadow imitation. The Rasengan went full force into Yunibi's rocky face, it shattered through the rock, the pulverized stone spun out. Through the rock, the Rasengan finally hit flesh, making Yunibi's head snapped back. The chakra covered fist of Chouji mets its mark as well, the rock breaking away at his extreme strength. The rock exploded out, revealing the flesh behind it.

Yunibi let out his final scream as the two impacts from opposite directions made his body bend in ways it wasn't meant to be. With blood gushing, his chest down was separated from the rest of his body, and it flew towards where Naruto once stood. His head and shoulders, with blood gushing forth, flew back, landing near where Chouji was just a second before.

Chouji and Naruto crossed paths, each landing near the bloody remains of their enemy. They both were covered in blood, in dripped down their face and onto their cloths. To them, it felt like the clouds were raining crimson.

In complete silence, the three gathered. Chouji then went to where he left Ino.

"Chouji!, are you okay, your covered in blood?" Ino's voice was filled with fear and concern.

"I'm fine, its not mine."

The girl was pale, never in her life had she seen so much blood. She slowly got to her feet with the help of the boy at her side. Chouji lifted her up onto his shoulder, and went back where Naruto and Shikamaru waited. Together they rushed in silence towards the safety of the caves. The second half of the storm was just about to start.


	8. Aftermath

* * *

Chapter 8: Aftermath 

All the citizens and ninjas of Konoha were safe inside the shelter of the cave. The wind picked up heavily, and the rain finally fell. It pounded the ground hard, washing away the blood and memories of the fight fought hours ago. Inside, Ino laid on her back, resting in the make shift Hospital. Her mind was reeling, thoughts of Chouji covered in blood just wouldn't leave her alone. Even if it wasn't his, it still sent waves of fear threw her body. The brutally of the fight between that rock-nin, Chouji and Naruto played with her consciousness. The scene of the man being ripped apart by the two boy's most fiercest attacks replayed over and over in her mind.

She continued to dabble in her thoughts. Especially the ones about the relationship between herself and her teammate. Just like that, they went from partners, too couples. Unfortunately fate was angry today and decided not to give them a bliss filled first date. Instead it turned into a fight for life and death, and luckily they came back all in one piece. Hopefully, after the rest of the storm passes and the village is back to some state of normality, Chouji will ask her on a formal date.

"Ino?"

The blond girl looked up to find her blond haired boyfriend, standing over her. He wore nothing but black pants. He chest glistened due the the light reflecting off of his muscular build.

"Chouji, why do you only have pants on?"

"Well, seeing that were boyfriend and girlfriend now, I was thinking we could . . ." Chouji stopped and looked at Ino's terrified expression. Not able to help himself, he busted out into fits of laughter. "Hahaha, oh my god, Ino you should have seen your face, you were so scared. Hahaha . . . I 'm joking . . . hahahahaha!! Did you really think I would ask something like that. Man your so gullible." Straighting up he looked over at the girl on the bed. "Anyway, I don't have anything else to wear right now. All of my other cloths are drenched in blood, and I didn't want to walk around like that. This was my only option, until I dig up some type of other clothing somewhere."

Ino's terrified expression quickly left, replaced by relief. "I wasn't scared." The girl lied.

"Okay Ino-chan. Whatever you say."

Ino couldn't stop herself from blushing when Chouji finally added chan to her name. It felt so right coming from the boy. "I see you added chan, I like it. Chouji . . . kun."

The boy lit up in a smile and walked over to where the girl laid. Bending down, he embraced her in a hug. Kissing her softly on the forehead, and went to go sit down in the chair next to her when he heard a ear-splitting scream.

"THERE HE IS!!!" A female voice screamed out with utter glee.

"Whose that Chouji-kun" Ino asked with a hint of anger and jealousy.

"Well . . . since I've been walking around without a shirt, I've kinda . . . gotten myself a fan club." The boy smile, hoping that Ino wouldn't destroy him. "Well, I didn't think they would find me here, but I was wrong. Gotta go." Chouji quickly kissed Ino again, this time on the cheek and hurried away before the one that finally spotted him called for reinforcements.

* * *

"I'm so glad your alright!" Temari squealed. She held onto Shikamaru tightly, wanting to never let him go. The girl was almost in tears, then suddenly her mood changed without warning. "You scared the crap out of me, coming in all battered up, seeing so much blood on your friends." She growled while slapping the lazy chunin hard in the shoulder. Shikamaru winced in pain, she just had to pick the one that he dislocated. Then the girl's fowl mood went straight back to cute and warm. "But I'm so glad you alright." 

Shikamaru could only sigh, and embrace and comfort the female sand-nin. While holding onto her tightly, he spotted Naruto and Hinata together, holding hands and walking out of the make-shift hospital.

"Sorry, Temari, but I have to go and talk to Naruto privately . . . you know; mission stuff." Before the girl could respond, Shikamaru kissed her and the left the her completely confused.

Naruto looked up too see Shikamaru bearing down on him and Hinata. "Oi, Shikamaru, whats up."

"Hinata, I'm sorry, but I need to talk to Naruto . . . alone."

Hinata looked at Naruto, who even though looking confused, nodded for the young Hyuuga to leave. Reluctantly, she backed away and went to join a lonely looking Temari.

"So Shika, whats up?"

"Naruto, I need to talk to you about what happen in the caves."

"Oh." Naruto looked down at his feet with guilt.

"You know, withholding information from your teammates could lead to a failed mission . . . or even worse."

"I know."

"Well apparently you didn't. Now tell me, what deal did you make with him. And more importantly, why didn't you tell me." Shikamaru, was apparently pissed. But his voice betrayed his angry expression, it was still calm and in a bored tone.

"He . . . um . . . he just . . . knew something. Thats all."

"He knew something? That doesn't make sense. Naruto, I'm not stupid, you know that. Now tell me."

"Fine." Naruto looked into Shikamaru's eyes. The fear of revealing his secret made his hear beat, and pores sweat. He didn't want to do it. But he went and dug himself a hole, he couldn't lie. . . or could he. No, Shikamaru wasn't going to fall for something stupid. It was time to tell someone.

"Well." Shikamaru questioned, glaring at the blond in front of him, who was clearly deep in thought.

"I will tell you, but you can't tell anyone. Okay. And when i say anyone. I MEAN ANYONE." Naruto stressed "anyone" with a slight growl.

"I won't tell anyone, its too troublesome. Now just tell me."

"Okay, but not here."

Naruto grabbed onto Shikamaru's jacket and hauled him to an unoccupied hallway that lead outside. There he slowly removed his white shirt. His chunin jacket long gone because of the tremendous amount of blood stains.

"What are you doing?"

"Just watch." Naruto said, as he brought his hands up, and molded some chakra.

Slowly, a spiral with intricate markings surrounding it appeared on his belly. Shikamaru watched in fascination.

Naruto spoke with regret. "I have Kyuubi sealed inside me, and that rock-nin knew about it. I promised to spare his life if he didn't tell everyone. That was the deal."

"Kyuubi? . . . you mean the nin-tailed demon fox that attacked 12 years ago?" Shikamaru responded, clearly a sense of understanding and awe with his voice.

"Yeah, they lied to you, they said that the 4th killed it, but the demon was just too powerful. He had to seal it in a baby. As you can see, that baby was me. Your parents were forbidden to tell you, in hope of me having friends. That went well." Naruto said, laying layers of sarcasm in his words.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I . . . don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything. I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore. But please don't tell anyone." Naruto's strong demeanor slowly broke, sadness now entering his voice.

"Huh. Why wouldn't I be your friend? Your so troublesome."

Naruto looked to brighten up slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course, you may be loud and hyper. But your still cool . . . in your own way. Now lets go."

Naruto threw his shirt back on with pride. Happy that he had at least one person his age that knew about the demon inside. Together they walked back into the crowded cave.

* * *

Naruto sat with Hinata at his prized Raman bar. It had been a week since the storm passed and the villagers of Konoha came back down to start the repairs on their town. Naruto couldn't stand the banging of hammers, the sound of saws and the overall loudness of the people working to repair the massive damage that the storm dealt out. The village was torn apart, the damage far surpassing the damage that occurred due to the attack from the Sand and Sound so many months ago. 

Unfortunately, the Raman bare wasn't actually open. The top of it was horribly ripped off, and a tree laid inside, apparently it was thrown inside, the large thick bark crushing the counter and went all the way out into the streets. There were only two stools that weren't completely destroyed.

"Wow, Hinata, theres so much damage."

She replied with a nod.

"You know, that old hag said that everything should be back to normal in about 3 weeks. I just hope they decide to fix the Raman bar. One week without their fantastic Raman was hell. Three weeks . . . I don't think I can take it." Naruto said with extreme sadness. Three days earlier when he first saw the destroyed Raman stand, he collapsed in the street crying. It was horrible.

In fact, Naruto's own apartment was completely destroyed, the top half ripped off by the extreme wind. But that didn't sadden the youth one bit. Maybe because the Hyuuga family decided to give their heir's boyfriend a place to stay until things were repaired. But the truth was that he hated it, the only thing that the storm destroyed were bad memories of lonely nights and a hungry stomach.

"Hey Naruto!!"

Naruto looked up to see Chouji and Ino walking towards them, holding handings.

"Sup Chouji."

"Nothing, just walking with Ino-chan here, surveying the damage. Man we really got messed up bad didn't we.

"Yeah you said it. Mother nature was really pissed."

"Heh, yeah it seems so."

"So . . ." Naruto words were cut off by a ear piercing scream.

"THE HE IS, AND HE HAS A GIRL!!! GET HIM!!!"

"Crap, Naruto could you take care of Ino while I lose them . . . "

"No problem. Good luck."

With that Chouji took off in a sprint, clearly running for his life. Seconds later, a crowd of Chouji craving, hormone filled fan girl's rushed past, each shooting a glare towards Ino before continuing their pursuit.

"So Ino, looks like you finally got the village's heart throb. Funny that it didn't turn out to be Sasuke bastard huh." Naruto teased

"Yeah, its ironic isn't it."

Together the three left the Raman bar, well whats left of it and headed to go help with some repairs. Naruto couldn't wait until things would get back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be considering all that has changed in the past week. Holding onto Hinata tightly, they made their way happily down the village's street just waiting for the next challenge Kami had to throw their way

The End

* * *

-Author's Notes-

Well there you go. My first Naruto fan fic is complete. I got a little uninterested in it at the end, and rushed it. Thats never a good thing, If I'm not interested in it, then the readers will definitely not be. It originally started out to focus mainly on Chouji and Ino, then somehow it change to focus on Chouji, Ino, Shikamaru and Naruto. Sorry for not putting the Sasuke and Sakura pairing in it, but they really weren't needed and din't fit in with the story. Considering Sasuke is locked up and Sakura is a worthless who just cries like a baby next to Sasuke. Oh well, Anyway, please R&R. Just to let you know, I'm in the works with a fic that I am very interested in. Its a NaruHina fic taking place when they are married and around the age of 23. Its going to be awesome, short . . . but awesome. I'm really going to dedicate myself to making the best I can. This fic really wasn't anything other then something to get my creative juices flowing. . Oh and one more thing, I've agreed to help out a fellow author bye the name of Crow-Sensai, he has a Shikamaru fic about him joining the Akatsuki. Its very good, but he only has 3 chapters written and a giant case of writers-block. So i decided to help him out, hopefully I can give him chapter 4 shortly. I have yet to finalize it. Anyway, peace out.


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